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Born in Avila, Spain, St. Teresa was a well-loved contemplative saint, mystic, writer, reformer,and theologian. She founded the Discalced Carmelites, and along with St. John of the Cross, the Discalced Carmelite Friars.

Teresa was a woman “for God,” a woman of prayer, discipline, and compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, and opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical, and graceful. Her description of contemplative prayer was used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Prayer of St Teresa of Avila

Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you.

All things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Those who have God found they lack nothing; God alone suffices.

The Pilgrims’ Center by Executive Resources, Inc., is the leading organizer of Holy Land Pilgrimages, Holy Land Tours, Marian Pilgrimages and other Catholic Pilgrimages from Manila, Philippines for over thirty years.